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Automation specialist celebrates Foam processing contracts
Following the success of their machinery innovations in the component processing fields, serving areas like foam and other materials, automation experts MattressTek are once again exhibiting at Foam Expo North America, as their sub brand AutomateTek. This is following the installation of a huge new production line in Michigan, which came as a lead from last year’s show.
to fi nd a way to alleviate labour and reduce the headcount on a production processing line whereby layers of foam could be separated and de-stacked, using vacuum suction, onto the processing line. They will then be fed into a line of water jet saws which, depending on what shapes they need to be cut into, cut them to the desired shape. They are then positioned onto wooden pallets to be built up and made into a crate for the secure packaging and shipment of products such as solar panels and tools. The wooden pallets that the foam layers were on are then lifted onto the line, but go in a diff erent direction to be stacked then re-used.
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MattressTek also designed, built and installed the crate build-up line, made up of chain conveyors that feed under a deck using scissor lifts, for the same customer, also automating and streamlining the next stage of processing that comes after this.
The automation of this process has meant that the number of operators needed has been reduced from twenty to just four.
The line utilises three De-stackers, around 14 CTek straight line belt conveyors, 11 C90 multi- directional conveyors, a Stacker and a BC90 rotation conveyor.
Technical director, Shaun, said “innovation
is in our DNA. Every project we have worked on since we set up has involved an element of thinking outside the box, whether it is providing a bespoke solution or adapting dimensions to fi t into limited space, saving space, reducing the
he customer was looking for a solution for six months when one of the brand’s machines caught their eye; the De- Stacker. The company had been looking
number of operators or speeding up processing and production.”
Never ones to stand still, they met with the customer, whose plant was a short drive from the Foam Expo show, whilst at the event and quickly sought out a solution. They looked at their existing conveyor de-stacking capabilities, as well as methods incorporating vacuum suction and air gripping. After testing a prototype at their site in the UK, they presented a bespoke process that exceeded the brief for both projects.
They have recently redeveloped various machines for bespoke needs, including their stitching machines for the healthcare sector, a mobile conveyor with retractable extension for loading/unloading vehicles, a barcode- informed stamping handle and vent border cutting machine, a material notching machine for accurately folding borders for divan beds, and a mandrel inserter.
On top of that, they have just won Specialist Machinery Manufacturer of the Year in the Corporate LiveWire Innovation & Excellence Awards and Best Mattress Manufacturing Machinery Company in this year’s SME News Business Elite Awards. They were one of the three fi nalists in the Machinery Innovation category of the UTECH Polyurethane Awards and have also been nominated for Instrumentation Excellence Awards in the Digital Transformation category and the Automation Product Innovation of the Year in the UK Material Handling Awards. They have just returned from a roundtable in London with BritishAmerican Business as part of their Transatlantic Growth tracker and awards, celebrating the success of UK SME expansion in the US.
With the support of the awareness that the awards and trade shows provide, they hope to continue to help more manufacturers streamline their production, reduce wastage of time, materials and resources, and make them more effi cient through automation like conveyors.
www.convertermag.com
June 2024
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